She Talks With Angels
by dustybritches01
Summary: When a girl has seen too much, knows too much, who will be there to help and protect her? A one-shot written for an original fiction contest translated into the fandom we love. Beta'd by SunflowerFran and Mr. DB.


_**She Talks With Angels**_

As Bella Swan sat in the corner of a large institutional lunchroom waiting for her food, she hummed and rocked to comfort herself.

"Now Bella, I got you a big spoon to help with them noodles."

Bella looked up to see Cope smiling down on her. Nurse Cope was a big woman, not tall, but wide. She looked squishy, comfy. Bella always thought you could get lost in a Cope hug, never to be found. She comforted herself with the thought. "Thank you, Cope," Bella nodded with a lopsided grin.

Nurse Cope placed the tray of food in front of the young woman. "Now Miss Bella, you eat as much as you can. I set aside a pudding cup for you," she said softly as she pushed a strand of limp hair off the waif-like girl's shoulder.

"Butterscotch?" Bella asked wrinkling her nose.

"No child, I know not to bother unless it's chocolate and vanilla swirl," Cope laughed.

"It's light and darkness, happy and sad, good and evil," Bella explained as she did every time there was pudding.

"You make old Cope happy and eat up now," the nurse said as she patted the college girl's bony shoulder.

Bella nodded as she picked up her spoon and Nurse Cope left her to help Nurse Fuller seat a large man dressed in a faded robe and a stained T-shirt.

As Bella fished out the slippery noodles from her soup, she began to rock making it difficult for the noodles to stay on the spoon. She stilled and closed her eyes as spicy vanilla wafted around her. "I can feel you watching from the corner," Bella whispered.

"I won't hurt you," a warm masculine voice whispered back.

"I know. You're my guardian angel," Bella stated.

"Yes, I'm watching over you, so eat your soup and grow strong," he said.

"Safe?"

"Safe."

"Okay," Bella nodded picking up her spoon and continuing the task of keeping the noodles on her spoon long enough to get them to her mouth.

When Nurse Cope came back, she found an empty bowl and messy table. Cope smiled as she pulled the pudding cup from her pocket.

"Miss Bella, you did such a good job of eating, I wish I had two pudding cups," Cope said as she wiped off the table and set the pudding and a new spoon in front of the dark haired, dark eyed young woman.

"Thank you, Cope," Bella said pulling back the foil seal on her pudding cup and licking it. "My guardian angel helped me eat my soup."

Cope frowned. "Well, it makes your Cope happy to see you eating."

Bella nodded, "Happiness is fleeting," she mused as she stabbed at the chocolate.

Nurse Cope gently move Bella's hand leading the spoon to the vanilla, "Yes, but it makes the sad parts of life bearable, sweetheart."

"Yes, I like vanilla more than chocolate," Bella stated as a tray crashed to the floor across the room.

Nurse Cope patted her back as she left to help Mrs. Brady pick up her spilled tray.

Bella sang to comfort herself as she dipped her finger in the plastic cup gathering the last little bit the spoon had missed. _"Little bunny, come inside, Safe here in my arms."_ She whispered the last two lines again as the familiar spiced vanilla wafted around her.

" _Safe here in my arms_ ," the tender voice sang with her once more.

"Safe?" Bella asked.

"Safe," was echoed back.

Bella stood, pushed her chair in, and hugged herself as she shuffled toward her room.

 **~o0o~**

He stood in the shadow of the staircase, watching her through the swinging Plexiglas door. She was so frail, an absolute shell of the girl he'd met a year ago .

He made his way through the corridors, avoiding cameras and humans, to stand outside her room listening to her mumble. Everything she said had meaning, but it seemed no one in this institution took the time to decipher her code, except maybe old Cope.

With extraordinary speed, he entered her room and took his position in shadow near the window.

Her back stiffened. "You're late, angel," she said from her bed as she stared at the wall.

"I'm sorry," the tall, slender man said as he lowered himself on the straight backed chair next to him.

"Angel business?" she asked.

"Yes."

Bella nodded and began rocking. "I figured I was pretty boring to watch all the time," she said as she dropped her head to let her hair shield her face.

"There is nothing more important than you. Can you look at me?"

"No."

"Why?"

She dropped her voice to a whisper. "If I look at you, you'll die. They all die."

His lips thinned as he nodded.

She cocked her head in the direction of the shadowed corner. "You smell like a snow day. I remember snow days. Snow days are happy days; under-blankets-sharing-books-and-kisses-days." Bella said with a wistful sigh.

"You'll have happy snow days again, Bella. I promise," he whispered and shifted in his seat. "May I read to you?"

She stilled. "Like snow days?"

"Yes, just like snow days."

She cocked her head toward the shadows again. "Um, okay."

"The book by your bed?"

She shrugged. "I can't seem to read it. The words keep moving."

Bella traced at the floral print of her bedspread as a shadow crossed the room. The movement of a long slender hand reaching for her book caught her eye. She closed her eyes quickly and held her breath as she peeked to see if her angel survived her slip and was thrilled when she saw his movement as he sat on her bed. She shifted from the center of the bed and felt it dip as her angel positioned himself beside her.

He began to read in a soft, familiar tone as she began to work the puzzle in her mind.

"You're Edward. I-I remember," she interrupted.

Edward lowered the book to his lap. Finally, after a year of visitations, she remembered him.

He turned toward her as she continued. "You were sweet to me, at the book store and the coffee shop." She frowned. "Were you stalking me?"

He grinned. "I suppose I was. I felt drawn to you. I wanted to know you and—protect you."

"Protect me …" her voice faded away, and he watched her begin to shake.

"Bella?"

"Shhh," she said as she crawled off the bed to crouch in the shadowed corner.

He followed, gracefully lowering his form to the floor.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she fisted her hair. "So much blood … they hurt him … the screams … so much blood."

Edward wanted to wrap her in his arms, keep her from the pain of her memories, but she would never be whole and safe without facing the truth of who and what he is.

"Yes love, I'm so sorry I didn't get there sooner," he said as he pried her hands from her hair.

"Why did they do that?" She looked imploringly into his glimmering champagne eyes. "We saw too much, didn't we? In the forest, camping—Dad and I saw—them."

Edward nodded cautiously.

She stilled. "I saw you. I saw you do vile things. You t-tore them apart and br-broke them."

He lowered his head. "They would never have stopped until all witnesses were dead. I … needed to protect you."

Silence fell between them.

"There was so much blood," Bella whispered again.

Edward nodded and rubbed his hands on his jean-clad thighs.

A sob escaped from her, and she whispered, "Thank you."

He turned himself to sit against the wall next to her. "I'm sorry about your father," he said with a resigned sigh—while inwardly cursing the fool for dragging his daughter into such danger.

Exhausted relief washed over her, and she leaned against the one who had saved her, the one who had stopped the evil in the forest. Although she knew Edward must be one of them, she also knew he was nothing like them. There was always light and darkness, good and evil.

"May I kiss you, love?" he whispered against her hair.

She drew back and nodded. A cool, slender finger tucked under her chin and elevated her eyes to meet his penetrating golden gaze. He gave her a reassuring smile as he lowered his lips to hers. His lips were soft, so soft—a promise, a whisper, and she found herself melting into him.

As she yielded to him, trusted him, he knew this was the moment. He gently broke their kiss to let his lips brush her cheek. He drew her fragile body closer as his nose skimmed her throat.

Bella shivered as she felt him travel up her neck to let his teeth grazed her earlobe and his hot breath course over her skin. His open mouthed kisses turned into sucking, and she felt him shudder as his teeth punctured her tissue-thin skin. Warmth radiated from the wounds and her eyes closed as she began to drift away.

Edward pulled her vibrating body into his.

"Safe?" she murmured weakly.

"Safe." He said as he licked her blood from his lips.

 **~o0o~**

Nurse Cope sat on the stripped bed of Bella Swan's empty room. The broken girl had vanished. No video, no disturbed doors or windows.

When a girl with severe PTSD transferred to Riverview after being rescued from the Olympic Wilderness, Cope knew what the girl must have encountered. Having grown up in the area, Cope knew that no one risked hiking too far into that dense forest without asking for trouble. She thought Bella's guardian angel must be one of Them determined to either silence her or take her. If it had wanted to hurt her, it could have done so at any moment, but Bella had never shown any fear when she spoke of her angel.

Cope frowned with a heavy sigh as she searched the room for what others had missed. When her eyes returned to the mirror on the wall, she walked to it and flipped it to find a scrap of paper wedged in the frame. Cope's mouth lifted in a satisfied smile as she saw she had been right.

Cope,

No more chocolate, just vanilla.

— Bella

6


End file.
